American Express Bank (AEB) has launched a private label internet-based product for euro cash management, enabling banks to add international capabilities to their online offering with minimal investment and without the infrastructure normally required for international transactions.
Called eAccess Private Label, this expansion of AEB’s eAccess suite helps banks outside Euroland meet the evolving euro cash management needs of their corporate clients.
"The single currency has been successful and is being increasingly used for payments and trade across the world," says Thomas Wiles, AEB's head of interactive product management and marketing. "That means banks outside of Euroland have to respond to their customers’ need for better, more cost effective ways to make and receive euro payments. AEB’s new euro solution lets a bank add significant euro capability efficiently. Banks save not only on development costs, but on ongoing operational costs as well. For the end corporate user, the service can significantly improve cash flow by accelerating receivables and reducing fees and foreign exchange costs."
Rather than referring a corporate client to a euro correspondent, the bank can now open a linked account through AEB so the client can conduct euro transactions with their house bank AEB will create a customised, or private label, version of eAccess with the bank’s branding and look and feel. This means the bank can expands its product range while maintaining control over the customer experience.
S.N. Rajgopal ('Raj'), who heads American Express Bank GmbH’s product management group in Frankfurt, says, "We are joining two of our strengths in a winning, innovative way. We have a long history in European correspondent banking – American Express has been in Germany since 1898. We have seen our banking business grow dramatically with the advent of the euro. Now, eAccess Private Label makes it possible for our client banks to take advantage of our capabilities in new ways."
Raj attributes part of the reason for American Express Bank’s success in Europe to strategic focus. "This business is very important to us, and we simply don’t compete with our client banks for business," he says.
In addition to assisting banks in expanding their international product offering and reducing costs, eAccess Private Label enhances straight-through processing (STP). It comes with a built-in database of over 80,000 bank codes and an international bank account number (IBAN) validator that not only makes sure an IBAN is correct, but also finds the active Swift bank identifier code (BIC) for any given IBAN. "The inclusion of a valid IBAN and a BIC are critical for STP in Europe," says Raj, "and this feature helps users avoid unexpected charges or delays that could be imposed by any bank in the payment chain." Users can also access daily integrated statements online, with download and export options.
eAccess Private Label is the latest addition to AEB’s eAccess suite of products, which includes eAccess Payments, a global, comprehensive, multi-currency web-based payments solution, and eAccess ResolveS, an award-winning cash reporting and transaction research system that delivers real-time information from the Bank’s global product centers in the Western Hemisphere, Europe and Asia to clients worldwide via the internet.